Supercritical water gasification of microalgae: The impact of the algal growth water

Kieran Heeley; Rafael l. Orozco; Zain Shah; Lynne e. Macaskie; John Love; Bushra Al-Duri

doi:10.1016/j.supflu.2023.106143

Supercritical water gasification of microalgae: The impact of the algal growth water

Kieran Heeley^*, Rafael l. Orozco, Zain Shah, Lynne e. Macaskie, John Love, Bushra Al-Duri

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Investigation into the supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of microalgae has largely used deionized water as the reaction medium. However, real systems would use the algal growth water directly, containing ions that have been known to catalyse SCWG (K+, Na+, OH-, Fe3+, Cl-). Investigation into the effect of the growth water on SCWG was carried out for a range of temperatures (450–550), biomass concentrations (1–3wt%) and catalysts (KOH, Ru/C), using glucose or Chlorella vulgaris as the feedstock was performed. A significant increase in CO2 and reduction in CO content in the gas was observed without a catalyst and with a Ru/C catalyst. An increase in char/tar was also observed without a catalyst. As a result, the impact of the growth water should be considered for the SCWG of microalgae, in laboratory experiments and the selection of algal growth media in industrial applications.

Original language	English
Article number	106143
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of Supercritical Fluids
Volume	205
Early online date	7 Dec 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2023.106143
Publication status	Published - 1 Mar 2024

Bibliographical note

Funding sources
This research was completed as part of a fully funded Ph.D. in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Hydrogen. Funding was supplied by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the University of Birmingham.

Keywords

Supercritical water gasification
Bioenergy
BECCS
Biomass
Microalgae
Supercritical fluids

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title = "Supercritical water gasification of microalgae: The impact of the algal growth water",

abstract = "Investigation into the supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of microalgae has largely used deionized water as the reaction medium. However, real systems would use the algal growth water directly, containing ions that have been known to catalyse SCWG (K+, Na+, OH-, Fe3+, Cl-). Investigation into the effect of the growth water on SCWG was carried out for a range of temperatures (450–550), biomass concentrations (1–3wt%) and catalysts (KOH, Ru/C), using glucose or Chlorella vulgaris as the feedstock was performed. A significant increase in CO2 and reduction in CO content in the gas was observed without a catalyst and with a Ru/C catalyst. An increase in char/tar was also observed without a catalyst. As a result, the impact of the growth water should be considered for the SCWG of microalgae, in laboratory experiments and the selection of algal growth media in industrial applications.",

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note = "Funding sources This research was completed as part of a fully funded Ph.D. in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Hydrogen. Funding was supplied by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the University of Birmingham.",

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AU - Heeley, Kieran

AU - Orozco, Rafael l.

AU - Shah, Zain

AU - Macaskie, Lynne e.

AU - Love, John

AU - Al-Duri, Bushra

N1 - Funding sources This research was completed as part of a fully funded Ph.D. in the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Sustainable Hydrogen. Funding was supplied by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the University of Birmingham.

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N2 - Investigation into the supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of microalgae has largely used deionized water as the reaction medium. However, real systems would use the algal growth water directly, containing ions that have been known to catalyse SCWG (K+, Na+, OH-, Fe3+, Cl-). Investigation into the effect of the growth water on SCWG was carried out for a range of temperatures (450–550), biomass concentrations (1–3wt%) and catalysts (KOH, Ru/C), using glucose or Chlorella vulgaris as the feedstock was performed. A significant increase in CO2 and reduction in CO content in the gas was observed without a catalyst and with a Ru/C catalyst. An increase in char/tar was also observed without a catalyst. As a result, the impact of the growth water should be considered for the SCWG of microalgae, in laboratory experiments and the selection of algal growth media in industrial applications.

AB - Investigation into the supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of microalgae has largely used deionized water as the reaction medium. However, real systems would use the algal growth water directly, containing ions that have been known to catalyse SCWG (K+, Na+, OH-, Fe3+, Cl-). Investigation into the effect of the growth water on SCWG was carried out for a range of temperatures (450–550), biomass concentrations (1–3wt%) and catalysts (KOH, Ru/C), using glucose or Chlorella vulgaris as the feedstock was performed. A significant increase in CO2 and reduction in CO content in the gas was observed without a catalyst and with a Ru/C catalyst. An increase in char/tar was also observed without a catalyst. As a result, the impact of the growth water should be considered for the SCWG of microalgae, in laboratory experiments and the selection of algal growth media in industrial applications.

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JF - Journal of Supercritical Fluids

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Supercritical water gasification of microalgae: The impact of the algal growth water

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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